EPA Discusses Possible WTC Health Issues

Published 8:00 pm, Thursday, December 26, 2002

Only people exposed to high concentrations of airborne pollutants in the first days after the World Trade Center attack are likely to suffer long-term health problems, the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday.

Citing measurements taken in and around the collapse zone, a new EPA report found that people in surrounding neighborhoods were unlikely to suffer ailments caused by contaminants such as PCBs, dioxins or asbestos.

The agency noted that the first air tests were done on Sept. 14, 2001, so no conclusions could be drawn about contaminants in the first three days after the Sept. 11 attack.

The EPA report came a week after a team of private researchers and scientists said the chemical composition of the dust near ground zero appeared to be less toxic than initially feared.

That study, to be published in the February issue of Environmental Science & Technology, also found that the particles collected were too large to lodge deep in people's lungs and cause long-term illness.